BRIAN LITTLE insisted the result was all important, acknowledging that this was not one of Tranmere's best displays despite the lowly opposition.

BRIAN LITTLE insisted the result was all important, acknowledging that this was not one of Tranmere's best displays despite the lowly opposition.

"It wasn't a classic, but we kept our cool and eventually we got the right result," was the manager's honest assessment. "It was a day when everyone would be sitting in the dressing room pleased they'd won but feeling they could have played better.

"You are always worried in games like this because people expect you to be winning by a few goals. We said to the players not to be anxious. We took time to settle.

"We never really had any free-flowing football, but we said at half-time to just grind out a result.

"Paul Hall managed to get into a good situation and took advantage. From there we didn't look back.

"Simon Haworth played his part as he comes back from what was a terrible injury, but in the last 20 minutes we decided to give Theodore Whitmore a role off Iain Hume. We're delighted he got a goal for us."

Little handed Paul Brown his senior debut late on in the game, although the young winger was unable to make a big impact other than to get himself a yellow card.

"He told me afterwards he has never been booked before," Little said. "He obviously wanted his name in the paper twice. Brownie has done very well of late. He is a winger with good ability."